A modern reanalysis reveals there are ways to optimize vitamin C therapy and significantly prolong the lives of cancer patients.
In 1978, Dr. Ewan Cameron and Nobel Laureate Linus Pauling published a study that reported long-term survival of cancer patients who had undergone intravenous + oral mega-dose (10,000 milligrams) vitamin C therapy. Vitamin C-treated cancer patients lived 20 times longer than a control group. While most patients succumbed to their cancer, intravenous vitamin C therapy outperformed conventional cancer therapy. By comparison, 0.4% of cancer patients who did not undergo vitamin C therapy survived 1-year versus 22% who had undergone intravenous vitamin C therapy. [Proceedings National Academy Science 1978]
But still vitamin C cancer therapy was a disappointment for the majority of desperate end-stage cancer patients.
Then over a decade later Drs. Cameron and Pauling published another study, which showed the survival of vitamin C-treated patients averaged 343 days compared to 180 days for conventionally treated controls. Some long-term cures were reported. [Medical Hypotheses 1991]
Cancer and Vitamin C
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Modern medicine quickly set out to disprove vitamin C cancer therapy soon after Cameron and Pauling’s first published study. Instead of intravenous delivery of vitamin C as the chosen route of delivery, two published studies used oral doses (10,000 mg/day), which achieved no effect. [New England Journal Medicine 1979; New England Journal Medicine 1985] Vitamin C therapy for cancer was summarily dismissed. However, oral dosing is not equivalent to intravenous administration of vitamin C.
But vitamin C advocates were not easy to discourage. Drs. Cameron and Pauling published their book entitled Cancer & Vitamin C in 1981. [Amazon.com]
Reexamination of vitamin C therapy called for
It was later reported that intravenous vitamin C therapy achieves vitamin C blood levels 25-fold higher than oral vitamin C. This dose and route of administration was toxic to cancer cells but unlike chemotherapy, not toxic to healthy cells. It safely killed cancer cells by transient generation of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), which converts to non-toxic water (H2O). Upon reexamination, a reassessment of vitamin C therapy was called for but there was no impetus to conduct a large human trial then or now. [Journal American College Nutrition 2000; Canadian Medical Assn. Journal 2006]
In August of 2008 researchers at the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University also revisited the subject of vitamin C therapy for cancer and also emphasized the difference in blood concentration of vitamin C between intravenous and oral routes of administration. [Proceedings National Academy Science 2008]
The advocacy for vitamin C as therapy for cancer by Linus Pauling Institute researchers was strongly rebutted by December of 2008. Arguments against vitamin C therapy were: (1) while vitamin C has been observed to shrink tumors its effect is modest and chemotherapy is more effective; (2) mega-dose vitamin C may generate hydrogen peroxide that kills cancer cells but so do many other molecules; (3) the number of intravenous sessions for most patients was 10 at best and a 10,000=milligram oral dose could not have achieved blood plasma concentrations sufficient to kill off cancer cells. [Proceedings National Academy Sciences 2008]
But advocates for vitamin C cancer therapy still persisted. [Immune Network 2009]
Does vitamin C interfere with chemotherapy?
There were also published reports that vitamin C interferes with chemotherapy, blunting the effect of chemotherapy drugs by 30-70%, further diminishing vitamin C’s applicability as an anti-cancer agent. [Cancer Research 2008]
However, this is a mischaracterization of vitamin C. As an antioxidant vitamin C protects patients from the toxic chemotherapy side effects upon healthy cells and the suffering of patients.
Healing Factor
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In a recently published study researchers report that high-dose intravenous vitamin C may help kill cancer cells in humans and should be used alongside chemotherapy. Researchers showed among 27 patients with advanced stage (stage 3) ovarian cancer who were undergoing chemotherapy (carboplatin or paclitaxel), vitamin C-treated patients experienced fewer side effects. [Science Translational Medicine 2014] But oncology is still far from the adoption of vitamin C therapy.
Why some cancer patients fail to respond to vitamin C therapy
In the scientific and political debate over whether further human clinical trials of vitamin C for cancer therapy should be launched, overlooked were reasons offered over three decades ago by Drs. Cameron, Pauling, and biologist Brian Leibovitz, as to why some patients failed to respond to vitamin C therapy, reasons that have yet to be fully reconsidered.
Among these was the degree to which white blood cells (T-lymphocytes) responded in numbers and activity. It was observed that tumors grow slowly in tissues where T-cells are abundant and are virtually absent in rapidly growing tumors. [Cancer Research 1979]
Another confounding factor was the stability of the gooey tissue surrounding tumors, what is called connective tissue, which inhibits the spread of cancer. The space-filling goo or cement surrounding living cells is largely comprised of hyaluronic acid and chondroitin sulfate.
Tumor cells grow and die in place if the connective tissue is intact, as malignant cells cannot escape into the blood circulation where they can create colonies known as metastases in other locations, which defines the mortal form of cancer.
The enzyme that degrades the cellular cement is hyaluronidase, which is abundantly active at tumor sites. A medicine that inhibits this enzyme and therefore blocks the breakdown of connective tissue (hyaluronan) would be another desirable goal in the control of cancer. Cameron, Pauling, and Leibovitz noted that bioflavonoids (such as quercetin derived from red apple peel and red onions) inhibit this enzyme. [Cancer Research 1979]
What was so convincing to Drs. Cameron and Pauling were that T-cells were sluggish and in sparse supply and connective tissue degraded in cases of scurvy, which is defined as frank depletion of vitamin C stores. Scurvy results in weak blood capillaries leading to hemorrhage often observed under the skin and in the eyes and bleeding gums. Other symptoms of scurvy include irritability and lassitude, joint pain, loose teeth, fatigue, anemia and lack of appetite, all which are evident in cases of cancer. Drs. Cameron and Pauling felt they were looking at one and the same disease. They would not be the only investigators fooled into thinking scurvy was cancer. [Annals Academy Medicine 2013]
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The overlooked vitamin C/cancer study
Enter a forgotten investigator in the war against cancer — Abram Hoffer MD, a nutrition-minded psychiatrist based in Canada who was known for his use of high-dose niacin therapy to treat schizophrenia. Vitamin C therapy for cancer could easily be dismissed except for Dr. Hoffer’s strikingly successful use of oral vitamin C (12,000 mgs/day) to achieve prolonged survival times.
Even today, only a few case reports stand in the way of outright dismissal of vitamin C therapy for cancer. [Puerto Rico Health Science Journal 2004; Canadian Medical Assn. Journal 2006; Integrative Cancer Therapy 2014]
Steven Hickey and Hilary Roberts, researchers from Manchester, England, also report on Abram Hoffer’s exceptional results with oral vitamin C in the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine. [Journal Orthomolecular Medicine 2013] Reasons for the astounding effect of oral vitamin C were not explored, however.
There must be some explanation for Dr. Abram Hoffer’s success in treating cancer with 12,000 milligrams of oral vitamin C in contrast to other contrary studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Abram Hoffer MD documented prolonged increased in survival, from an average of 5.7 months to ~100 months (8+ years), something modern oncology has not achieved today. But Dr. Hoffer’s report has been ignored. [DoctorYourself.com]
Dr. Hoffer’s data is presented below that compared patients who elected to undergo vitamin therapy with those who refused. Almost all patients had undergone chemotherapy or radiation treatment with only 1 patient having the gumption to choose vitamin therapy alone. Here is Dr. Hoffer’s 5-year survival data:
Oral Antioxidant Therapy & End-Stage Cancer
Abram Hoffer MD
Journal Orthomolecular Medicine, Volume 15, 2000
No. of patients treated/vitamin C 441
No. of patients in control group (chemo, radiation): 54
Survival conventional cancer treatment
Curing the Incurable: ...
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Year 1: 28%
Year 2: 15%
Year 3: 15%
Year 4: 13%
Year 5: 11%
Vitamin C treatment*
Year 1: 73%
Year 2: 56%
Year 3: 48%
Year 4: 44%
Year 5: 39%
* Consisted of 12,000 mg oral vitamin C as ascorbic acid, mega-dose niacinamide, beta carotene, zinc.
Failure to address T-cells
Dr. Hoffer’s reported success in the treatment of cancer with oral nutrients may be explained by Ewan Cameron’s and Linus Pauling’s published reasons why intravenous vitamin C cancer therapy didn’t always work. Cameron and Pauling specifically mention the decline in numbers and activity of white blood cells known as T-lymphocytes or T-cells. [Cancer Research 1979]
Dr. Hoffer treated his patients with an array of other nutrients including zinc. Zinc is the key nutrient that primes T-cells in the thymus gland that shrinks with advancing age.
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Shrinkage of the thymus gland, located below the chest plate (sternum) is progressive with advancing age. The thymus gland is responsible for activating T-cells that are essential for immune system maintenance. The thymus gland shrinks at a rate of about 3% per year till middle age and then 1% per year thereafter. [Frontiers Immunology 2013] There are no present therapies offered by physicians to regenerate the thymus gland even though they are widely documented and available.
The incidence of cancer, infection, inflammation and autoimmune problems among the elderly is attributed to the decline in the immune system. [Critical Review Oncology Hematology 2010]
The age-related decline in human immunity is called immunosenescence and directly related to thymus gland atrophy. Immunosenescence involves a diminished ability to recognize new a biological threat (bacteria, virus, fungus, tumor, etc.). [Organogenesis 2015] A normal immune response “depends heavily upon the presence of thymus-activated T-cells. [Advances Experimental Medicine Biology 1976]
The primary job of your thymus gland is to process white blood cells known as immature T-lymphocytes (or T-stem cells) to become mature T-cells (aka T-helper cells or T-cells with a surface protein called CD4 T-cells).
Newly activated T-cells have not developed a memory yet, that is, have not produced specific antibodies from exposure to antigens such as bacteria, viruses, fungi and cancer. These are called naïve T-cells. Without a fresh supply of naïve T-cells throughout life, the body can’t defend (develop antibodies) against new biological threats. It is your thymus gland that produces most new naïve-T-cells.
Zinc supplementation and cancer
Zinc supplementation triggers events required for the recruitment of white blood cells (leukocytes) to the site of infection. The most prominent effect of zinc deficiency is a decline in T-cell function.
Oral zinc supplementation stimulates thymus growth and thymus gland hormone (thymulin) levels, which suggests the age-related decline in thymus function may be due to zinc deficiency. This condition may be partial if not fully corrected with zinc supplementation. [Clinical Immunology Immunopathology 1993]
Remarkably, zinc supplied to old mice facilitated a complete recovery of thymus gland function and regrowth of the organ with greater immune efficiency. Researchers conclude that age-related thymus gland shrinkage and immune system dysfunction are not intrinsic and irreversible and largely depend upon zinc adequacy. [International Journal Immunopharmacology 1995]
In a human study published over three decades ago, mega-dose zinc administered to subjects over 70 years of age increased the number of T-cells and improved antibody response to vaccination. [American Journal Medicine 1981]
Zinc is not limited to T-cell production. It is also required for neutrophils, the first-responding white blood cells to infection or malignancy, to track down, intercept and destroy pathogenic germs or tumor cells in the blood
The Cancer Breakthrough
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circulation (what is called chemotaxis). [Immunology Today 1997] Highly active neutrophils have been identified in a strain of cancer-proof mice. [Knowledge of Health]
Was it the inclusion of zinc in Dr. Abram Hoffer’s vitamin supplement regimen when combined with vitamin C that produced prolonged survival for otherwise helpless cancer patients?
A recent study is instructive. Vitamin C, aspirin, and zinc were administered to laboratory rats given a chemical to induce colon cancer. Aspirin and vitamin C maintained normal colon cells in 87.5% of the animals whereas zinc showed a 100% reduction in tumor incidence. [Asian Pacific Journal Cancer Prevention 2013]
As a side note, Linus Pauling is often ridiculed for his advocacy of high-dose vitamin C to cure a common cold. [Vitamin C & The Common Cold; Amazon.com] Quackwatch.com still lists Linus Pauling as a health quack. [Quackwatch.com] Studies show vitamin C is modestly helpful in reducing the duration of a cold by 8%. [Cochrane Database Systematic Reviews 2013] However, zinc taken as zinc acetate lozenge, has been shown to shorten the duration of a cold from 7.4 to 3.5 days. [Clinical Infectious Diseases 2008; Journal Infectious Diseases 2008]
Vitamin C also a thymus maintenance nutrient
Vitamin C is also a thymus maintenance factor. Only recently has high-dose vitamin C been proposed to regenerate the thymus gland based upon an animal study. [British Journal Nutrition 2015] Vitamin C protects T-cells by inhibiting programmed cell death or apoptosis, a regulatory mechanism that is likened to the way trees shed leaves and replace them. [Cell Immunology 1999; Molecular Biology Of The Cell 4th edition]
In an animal laboratory experiment vitamin, C was given to vitamin C deficient mice that were genetically modified so they didn’t internally produce vitamin C as most animals do. The animals were given two doses of vitamin C, equivalent to the recommended daily allowance in Japan (100 mg/day) or ten times the RDA (1000 mg/day) for a year. The blood plasma vitamin C levels of these animals were similar.
Mice given the highest amount of vitamin C had almost double the population of T cells and thymocytes (premature T-cells) compared to mice given the lower dose of vitamin C. The mice fed mega-dose vitamin C had more naïve T-cells (CD4 and CD8 T-cells that has not developed a memory to counter specific antigens yet) that are employed to fight new infections. Supplemental vitamin C also improved the population and function of immune cells released from bone marrow.
These Researchers concluded that high intake of vitamin C, beyond what the best plant food diet “contributed to sustaining immune cells and could be effective in improving immune function in elderly people.” [British Journal Nutrition 2015]
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Other molecules optimize vitamin C cancer therapy
There is also evidence that oral vitamin C therapy can be further enhanced by the use of available natural enzyme inhibitors, as mentioned by Cameron, Pauling and Leibovitz over three decades ago.
Natural molecules have been demonstrated to inhibit hyaluronidase, the enzyme that breaks down connective tissue surrounding tumors and facilitates their escape from immune control. For example, quercetin, a natural molecule derived from red apple peel and red onion, is a strong inhibitor of hyaluronidase, the enzyme that breaks down connective tissue surrounding tumors that then allows tumor cells to spread. [Journal Biological Chemistry 1950; Journal Food Science 2010]
The idea of using oral vitamin C is being reinvigorated by researchers Steve Hickey, Hilary Roberts and Nicholas J. Miller whose preliminary investigations demonstrate that oral vitamin C can achieve blood plasma levels of vitamin C capable of killing cancer cells. [Journal Nutritional & Environmental Medicine 2008]
When vitamin K3 is combined with vitamin C therapy, cancer cells die by autoschizis – that is they are split and utterly destroyed. [Ultrastructural Pathology 2010]
The synergistic use of vitamin E as alpha tocopherol succinate and synthetically made vitamin K3 plus ascorbic acid is also proposed as a further enhancement of vitamin C cancer therapy. [PLoS One 2012]
Not surprisingly, the addition of quercetin to vitamin C + vitamin K was more effective in killing cancer cells than the two vitamins alone in a lab dish study. [Alternative Medicine Reviews 2010; British Journal Cancer 2010]
Activation of T-cells via fatty acids
If modern medicine has one glaring sin it is not putting dated science into modern practice. One wonders how many cures remain hidden in forgotten or overlooked science. Specific nutrients that activate T-cells were described by David Horrobin and colleagues in 1979.
Horrobin noted that prostaglandin E1 is considered a major regulator of T-cell development and function. Prostaglandins are lipid (fatty) compounds having hormone-like qualities. Horrobin noted that inadequate consumption of zinc, vitamin C, vitamin B6 and GLA omega-6 oils (evening primrose, black currant seed, borage oil) may impair prostaglandin E1 and result in a decline in T-cell function. [Medical Hypotheses 1979; Medical Hypotheses 1979]
In fact, it was David Horrobin who noted that the body’s inability to convert linoleic acid to gamma linolenic acid (GLA) oils impairs the production of prostaglandin E1 required for activation of T-lymphocytes (T-cells). [Medical
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Hypotheses 1979] Horrobin went on to explain that omega-6 GLA oil is the main dietary essential fatty acid that must be metabolized via an enzyme called delta 6 desaturase. [American Journal Clinical Nutrition 1993]
In an oversimplification, other researchers had earlier defined cancer as a problem of metabolism involving the failed conversion of fatty acids to GLA emanating from the inability to produce or activate the delta 6 desaturase enzyme. [Medical Hypotheses 1983] Horrobin explains that vitamin C, zinc and vitamin B6 are required to produce the delta 6 desaturase enzyme that in turn converts fatty acids to GLA to produce prostaglandin E1 that then activates T-cells. [Medical Hypotheses 1981]
There is supportive evidence for the use of omega-6 GLA oil for cancer. When GLA omega-6 oil was combined with omega-3 oil (EPA) and added to the diet of lab animals that had human cancer cells implanted in their lungs the growth of the tumors was inhibited by more than 50%. [Lipids 1997] In a lab dish, the addition of omega-6 GLA oil completely halted the growth of tumor cells. [Biochemical Biophysical Research Communications 1996]
Bottom line it would also be wise to supplement the diet with both omega-3 (fish oil/flaxseed oil) and GLA omega-6 oil (evening primrose, black currant seed, borage oil) to activate T-cells in an anti-cancer regimen.
David Horrobin and Linus Pauling were writing in the same time period. Horrobin went on to promote GLA omega-6 evening primrose oil as an agent to produce prostaglandin E1. Linus Pauling went on to promote vitamin C. Had the two researchers joined forces, medical history may have been profoundly changed.
Summary
Astonishingly, given the new understanding of why Dr. Abram Hoffer’s oral vitamin C regimen worked to produce unprecedented survival, it would now be plausible for otherwise helpless patients, for whom all other alternatives have been exhausted, to safely employ a regimen of dietary supplements in an attempt to abolish cancer either under the watchful guidance of a physician or on their own.
Because of dynamic demand, researchers Steve Hickey, Hilary J Roberts and Robert F Cathcart propose the dynamic flow model of vitamin C supplementation.
Steve Hickey notes the marginal transient effect of intravenous vitamin C, generating cancer cell-killing hydrogen peroxide for a short period of time (an hour) compared to oral vitamin C that can achieve sustained cell-killing. Even chemotherapy delivered intravenously in an oncologist’s office has limited effect as cancer cells grow in between courses of intravenous treatment. It appears the postulation that intravenous vitamin C is required to produce cancer cell die-off is nothing more than a distraction from the fact oral vitamin C therapy works. Hickey and Roberts note that Abram Hoffer was not the only investigator who successfully employed vitamin C therapy for cancer. In 1982 researchers in Japan reported modest success when high blood levels were achieved. [International Journal Vitamin Nutrition Research 1982] But it appears modern medicine looked the other way.
An excess supply of oral vitamin C provides a steady flow of electrons through the body to counterbalance atoms with a missing electron that are known as tissue damaging free radicals. While just 2 milligrams of vitamin C/day
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averts abject depletion of vitamin C stores that induces symptoms of scurvy, the human body has variable demands for electrons to counter destructive uncontrolled oxidation based upon age, high sugar diets, exposure to toxins and radiation, infection, health habits like smoking, vitamin C depleting drugs, physical or emotional stress, childhood growth, wound healing, pregnancy and disease states like diabetes and cancer.
Animals that internally synthesize vitamin C from their liver or kidneys produce vitamin C in variable amounts on demand. Humans may consume sufficient amounts of vitamin C from foods to avert scurvy but not enough to remain healthy in all biological circumstances.
Biochemist Irwin Stone notes that a 160-lb. goat, about the weight of a human, produces ~13,000 milligrams of vitamin C a day and more when under biological stress. For comparison, people in advanced countries like the U.S. consume ~110 milligrams of vitamin C a day from their diet and even a diet composed of 5-servings of plant foods/day provides only around 200-250 milligrams of vitamin C. [The Healing Factor 1972]
For health maintenance (not cancer treatment but cancer prevention) for healthy adults, Hickey proposes 500 mg of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) consumed orally every 4 waking hours or 2500 mg/day to achieve optimal blood concentrations. Consumption of 500 mg of vitamin C spread out every 4 hours or so, for a total of 2500 mg/day would achieve optimal blood levels. For avid health seekers, they may wish to read more about dynamic flow online. [Journal Orthomolecular Medicine 2005] Considerable amounts of this orally consumed vitamin C is excreted in urine flow, which is the reason for repeated intake throughout the day. A single oral dose will only achieve optimum blood levels for 2-3 hours.
The accompaniment of bioflavonoids from citrus or other herbal sources slows the absorption of vitamin C and helps to maintain a steady blood concentration. [American Journal Clinical Nutrition 1988] Time-release vitamin C pills would accomplish the same objective.
As explained by Hickey and colleagues, in states of illness, such as cancer, the demand for electrons rises exponentially and up to 200 grams (200,000 mgs) might be needed. Cancer cells have a voracious appetite for vitamin C. A therapeutic vitamin C regimen attempts to turn vitamin C from a protective antioxidant to a pro-oxidant state to transiently generate hydrogen peroxide at the site of tumors and selectively kill off cancer cells without damaging healthy cells. [Journal Orthomolecular Medicine 2005]
Hickey and colleagues suggest poor oral absorption of vitamin C is related to the consumption of dietary carbohydrates (bread, pasta, rice, cereal). [Journal Nutritional & Environmental Medicine 2008]
There is also renewed prospect for use of oral vitamin C for cancer therapy with the use of liposomal vitamin C, a better-absorbed form of vitamin C. [Anticancer Research 1999]
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Hickey and colleagues later describe the use of liposomal vitamin C (vitamin C + lecithin (Livon Laboratories, Henderson, NV) to improve oral absorption of vitamin C and achieve cancer/germ-killing effect equivalent to that of chemotherapy drugs. [Peakenergy.com]
Liposomal vitamin C is also documented to suppress tumor cell growth in lab animals when plain vitamin C did not. [Anticancer Research 1999]
Sugar: the vitamin C negating factor
Cancer cells grow rapidly and have a high demand for sugar for growth. While most of that sugar are internally produced in the liver as glucose, consumption of sucrose (cane sugar) and fructose (corn syrup) in the diet feeds tumor cells. High intakes of sugar and refined carbohydrates (bread, rice, pasta, cereal), which are converted to sugar in the body, are associated with cancer risk and poor survival. High blood sugar levels impair the action of vitamin C and paralyze white blood cells. Researcher John T Ely noted the concentration of vitamin C in white blood cells is 50 times that found in the blood plasma. Dr. Ely demonstrated that high blood sugar levels hasten the demise of laboratory animals; 16 of 24 animals on a high sugar diet succumbed to cancer versus only 1 of 20 animals given a low sugar/carbohydrate diet. Ely said any effort to increase vitamin C intake would be futile unless elevated blood sugar levels are corrected. [Biochemical & Biophysical Research Communications 1985] When researchers controlled blood sugar levels in cancer patients and employed there was a significant enhancement of radiation cancer therapy. [Acta Cytologica 1968]
The adherence to a no-added-sugar/low carbohydrate diet as proposed by John T Ely appears to be required to achieve a cancer-killing effect with vitamin C therapy. [Integrative Cancer Therapy 2005]
Dr. Ely ventured to place two end-stage terminal breast cancer patients on a low-sugar/ low carbohydrate diet combined with oral vitamin C. Each subject shed 50 pounds and reportedly lived 11 and 13 years respectively. [Journal Orthomolecular Medicine 1996]
Hickey and colleagues tested vitamin C as ascorbic acid and liposomal vitamin C given in divided doses throughout the day totaling 20,000 milligrams (20 grams) and 36,000 milligrams (36 grams)/day to achieve non-toxic cancer therapy without the bowel problems induced by high single-dose vitamin C therapy. [Journal Nutritional & Environmental Medicine 2008]
Dr. Tom Levy, the author of Curing The Incurable [Amazon.com], says oral vitamin C only fails when not enough is taken. [PeakEnergy.com]
What will you do when diagnosed with cancer?
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Gripped by fear and indecision, I don’t think many readers of this report diagnosed with cancer would venture on their own to treat cancer with vitamin C therapy. Only 1 of 496 patients whom Dr. Abram Hoffer treated with vitamin C therapy opted out of chemotherapy and/or radiation treatment and faced cancer with a handful of vitamin pills alone.
However, a harsh reality is that there are no cures for cancer. Seventy-percent of cancers are solid tumors that are not penetrated by chemotherapy or radiation. [Clinical Cancer Research 2002]
One study showed chemotherapy only contributed to 2% of the reported 5-year cancer remissions. [Clinical Oncology 2004] Yet these failed chemotherapies generate 80% of an oncologist’s income. [Integrated Health Strategies 2013] Said another way, oncologists are rewarded financially to NOT use vitamin C in the treatment of cancer.
Another study shows that cancer cells regrow in between treatment sessions and are a major cause of treatment failure. [Nature Reviews Cancer 2005]
A long-term study in Canada showed that patients who elected to undergo cancer treatment achieved a median survival of only 9-months over patients who refused to undergo radiation, surgery or chemotherapy. [Cancer Causes & Control 1993] Cancer patients may fare better with vitamin C therapy.
Most of the cancer patients and their families who read this report will take a copy back to their oncologist to seek a professional opinion and its content will be summarily dismissed as unproven. But I tell cancer patients once you are diagnosed with cancer you are SH_ _ out of luck and you had better be searching for alternatives from the get-go. The FDA approves chemotherapy drugs if they shrink a tumor by 50% for 28 days. If you have been diagnosed with cancer and seek longer survival than that you may have to step outside conventional medicine.
For decades oncologists dismissed immunotherapy (T-cell) for cancer. Even though researchers knew that New York doctor Chester Southam had injected live cancer cells into healthy prisoners in 1964 and they didn’t develop cancer, which suggested their immune system had protected them, cancer researchers continued to deny that therapies that address the immune system would be curative. [New York Post 2013]
Following injection of human tumor cells into laboratory rats, Dr. Southam himself reported on the successful injection of “immunocytes” –white blood cells and thymus gland cells — that resulted in “rejection of the human cell tumors” and normal development of the animals. [Cancer Research 1969]
In 1972, a review of 80-years of immunotherapy for cancer concluded: “an immunological attack on an established tumor appears to be unable to inhibit its progressive growth and … the balance is inexorably tilted toward in favor of the tumor.” In 1974, a researcher said: “immunologic surveillance (of tumors) probably does not exist.” [American Journal Pathology 1974]
To underscore the absurdity of modern cancer treatment and its long-standing aversion to vitamin therapy, recognize that oncologists are now bragging about a proven cure where T-cells are removed from the patient, grown and activated in a lab dish and then infused back into the patient. This technology produces dramatic remissions from blood cancers (forms of lymphoma and leukemia) at a cost of $50,000-$75,000. [The Guardian 2016; National Cancer Institute 2014; MIT Technology Review 2015] That is precisely what a bottle of zinc and vitamin C tablets are proposed to do at a cost of $25.
From a marketing standpoint maybe vitamin C therapy for cancer needs to be renamed as “electron donor therapy,” to give it more of a scientific flavor.
A final question remains. Given that tumor cells invariably deplete vitamin C from body stores, whether vitamin C therapy is proven to be curative for cancer or not, why does modern medicine leave every cancer patient in a state of abject vitamin C deficiency on their death bed?
Sources of more information:
Book: Curing The Incurable, Tom Levy MD.
Book: The Cancer Breakthrough, Steve Hickey, Hilary Roberts
Book: Cancer & Vitamin C, Ewan Cameron, Linus Pauling
Book: New Insights On Vitamin C And Cancer, Michael J. Gonzalez, Jorge R Miranda-Massari (scientific book for health professionals)
Dosage range for dietary supplements
Zinc
Preferred forms: acetate, citrate, methionine (Optizinc) Dosage range: 15-30 mg
Vitamin C Forms: ascorbic acid, ascorbyl palmitate (fat soluble), mineral ascorbate (calcium ascorbate, magnesium ascorbate) Dosage range: Health maintenance: 500 mg 5-times/day Therapeutic: 12,000/day to 50,000 mg/day
Vitamin E Preferred form: d-alpha tocopherol succinate Dosage range: 200-400 mg Quercetin Dosage range: 250-500 mg/day
Omega-6 GLA oil Preferred sources: evening primrose, black currant seed, borage oil Dosage range: 600-1200 mg/day
